People in Indiana with disabilities now have a search engine devoted to their needs, designed with features designed to make it easier to use.

Fifth Freedom, a statewide advocacy organization for people with disabilities, manages IndianaPop.org. The organization, based in Fort Wayne, launched the site quietly more than a year ago, said Sheri Caveda, the group’s executive director.

On Friday, Fifth Freedom formally announced the website and described its capabilities in a press conference at the Holiday Inn, 4111 Paul Shaffer Drive, just west of IPFW.

The shorthand pitch for IndianaPop.org is this slogan: “Searching for disability services online can be like digging for a needle in a haystack. But now you have a magnet.”

Everyone involved tackled the obvious question: What does anyone need with another search engine when Google, not to mention Bing and other search engines, indexes billions of websites and their contents?

“Relevant results can be buried under a pile of useless information,” said Doug Schmidt, director of communications at Fifth Freedom. The creators of IndianaPop.org, which was designed by Reusser Design in Roanoke, have pared back search results to tailor them to users in Indiana. Advanced searches can be restricted by county. For people with visual impairments, controls built into the new website make it easier to adjust contrast or enlarge type in the site.

Schmidt acknowledged that those features are available in conventional computer operating systems and web browsers, but they can be hard to find and use for less-experienced computer users.

He said that a survey of users found that 95 percent said IndianaPop.org is easier to use than popular search engine.

Fifty-four percent found services they were looking for in three minutes or less. <br>

<center> Specialty search engine </center><br>

A search engine designed to help disabled people find services they need is at IndianaPop.org.